European roundup: Napoli extend lead to 18 points with defeat of Sassuolo

Napoli beat Sassuolo 2-0 away to move 18 points clear at the top of Serie A with a seventh straight win thanks to first-half goals from Khvicha Kvaratskhelia and Victor Osimhen on Friday.

Napoli have 62 points from 23 games – Internazionale, who host mid-table Udinese on Saturday are second – and are moving closer to ending a 33-year wait for the league title.

“We won the last few games [before Friday’s win], but there was less quality,” the Napoli manager, Luciano Spalletti, said. “Tonight, on the other hand, in possession, in phase management, in being a team in all things, I felt we were superior to the last games and I can classify that as a great performance.”

Kvaratskhelia opened the scoring in the 12th minute after taking possession in midfield and firing the ball into the bottom corner of the net from the edge of the box. The 22-year-old Georgian continues to impress this season with 10 goals and nine assists in Serie A. He is now fourth in the scoring charts and has the most assists.

Sassuolo’s Armand Lauriente almost equalised two minutes later but his shot from inside the box hit the post.

Osimhen doubled Napoli’s lead after 33 minutes when the Nigeria striker beat Andrea Consigli from an acute angle, taking the Serie A top scorer to 18 goals.

“In my opinion we suffered a couple of times because Sassuolo are well coached and play good football, so you can’t have 90 minutes of supremacy and sometimes you have to suffer,” said Spalletti. “We are living a good moment, but nobody has the presumption to go softer and these are important signals for the future.”

Sassuolo thought they had cut the deficit just before the end but Lauriente’s effort was ruled out by VAR for an offside.

Almería suffered their third